The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
Incorporated in Hong Kong with limited liability
Gro
ead Office
Box 64 GPO Hong Kong
The Home Secretary
The Home Office
50 Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON SW1
21 August 1980
Dear Sir
BRITISH NATIONALITY LAW White Paper CMND 7987
In response to the invitation extended in the Green Paper on this subject we, in common with other members of the British business community in Hong Kong, represented our views to the British Trade Commissioner in Hong Kong who, we understand, made these views known to you. We had further opportunity of making representation of our views to Mr Woodfield, Deputy Under Secretary of the Home Office, when he was in Hong Kong in November 1979. We advised Mr Woodfield that we were concerned about the implications to our British staff of the last section of Clause 46 of the Green Paper which reads
"The Government consider that as a general rule
a new British Citizenship should not be transmitted beyond the first generation born abroad, but they recognise that some circumstances might justify exceptions."
We pointed out to Mr Woodfield that although they spend their careers abroad, the majority of our British staff own houses in UK, send their children to school there, spend leaves in UK and retire there. Nevertheless their children, who by circumstance of their parent's employment with us outside UK, will be adversely affected by the proposed legislation. In our opinion this is a result which would be grossly unfair to these children and one which can scarcely have been the intention of Her Majesty's Government.
are born
Paragraph 55 of the White Paper reiterates the intention proposed in Clause 46 of the Green Paper. Paragraph 56 of the White Paper notes that the Government is considering an exception to this general rule for the children of people who spend a large proportion of their career abroad serving British interests and that the Bill will provide that where a British citizen by descent can show that he has a continuing close connection with the United Kingdom his or her minor children will be registered on application as British citizens. However, it is not clear that the children of our British staff will come within this definition.
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